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Burning A Little Oil

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by Aaron, Jun 23, 2015.

  1. Aaron

    Aaron Member

    Joined:
    Mar 10, 2008
    260
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    0
    Location:
    Monroe, Ohio
    Vehicle:
    2008 Prius
    My 2008 with 122K has been burning about a half quart every 5K mile oil change. Normal? It just starting doing this the last two oil changes.

    I swear the oil level didn't even go down the slightest fraction between oil changes up until recently. What would cause this? Is there anything I can do? Will "high milage" engine oil help any?

    I will say a make a lot of frequent very short trips between buildings (~1 mile) for my job and it was very cold this past winter.
     
  2. JC91006

    JC91006 Senior Member

    Joined:
    Nov 10, 2013
    16,463
    8,377
    0
    Location:
    Los Angeles, CA
    Vehicle:
    2008 Prius
    Model:
    II
    It seems to be normal usage. You can try changing the PCV valve to see if it improves. If not, then just monitor the oil level and add as needed.

    I wish my car only uses 1/2 qt every 5000 miles.
     
  3. bernie3015

    bernie3015 Member

    Joined:
    Oct 15, 2011
    53
    36
    0
    Location:
    Los Angles
    Vehicle:
    2007 Prius
    Model:
    Two
    My 2007 with about 272k was burning 1.5 to 2 quarts of oil for every tank of gas. Now at 285k miles it is burning 1 quart every 3,000 miles. A BIG IMPROVEMENT. I had to replace the catalytic converter in the car. Hopefully the current oil burn rate will not kill the CAT. If anyone knows I would love to hear. Also the oil now stays clean whereas before it would get dirty very fast and by putting a camera down the spark plug holes I noticed the cross hatch groves in the cylinder walls. so i think I can get some more miles out of this engine. But in California Catalytic converters are VERY EXPENSIVE. So running the engine to the bitter end does not really pay!

    What did I do? Put 4oz of Sea Foam down each spark plug hole and let it peculate down through the two compression rings and the oil ring and the oil passages to the bottom of the piston. Probably overnight works 18 hours with just a rag over the spark plug holes left the pistons dry in another Prius. I have pictures and more detail at Burning oil problems due to dirty piston rings (oil & compression) and prevent catalytic converter problems and keep the oil cleaner for a longer engine life.